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To Own the Sky
'To Own the Sky '''is the sixth Shadows of the Apt short story by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It was published in his blog in December 2008. Set in Collegium in the year 478, roughly fifty years before the beginning of the series, it follows a Beetle-kinden artificer's apprentice named Lial Morless who takes up his late master's dream of achieving heavier-than-air flight. Plot Cutmold Limner, a Beetle-kinden artificer, falls to his death inside an experimental heavier-than-air flying machine whilst participating in Collegium's biannual powered flight competition, Clifftops. His prospects and future hopes dashed, Limner's apprentice Lial Morless contemplates his next course of action. He rebuffs a job offer from Limner's rival, airship magnate Goiter Parrymill, and Limner's halfbreed forge-hand Scop resigns. Lial is determined to continue his master's work, and his friend and Art coach Taul We suggests utilising silk. Jealous of his monopoly on the air trade, Goiter Parrymill uses his influence to prevent Lial from obtaining silk. A mysterious message directs Lial to a disgraced Spider-kinden Arista named Gryssa, who owns a spider from which she harvests silk. Lial begins to improve upon his master's designs, using a workshop owned by a trio of rogue Sarnesh Ant-kinden of whom the same mysterious messenger informs him. Goiter Parrymill investigates, and Lial challenges him by saying he will have a functioning heavier-than-air flying machine ready for Clifftops the next year. Parrymill hires a Fly-kinden artificer and spy named Turlo to investigate Lial's machine, and Turlo reports back that it won't work. Turlo's report is delivered to Lial by his mysterious benefactor, and Lial uses its critiques to fix problems. Parrymill, increasingly desperate to ensure Lial's project fails, reveals to an ally that he and Cutmold Limner used to move in the same circles as students at the Great College, and that they and a group of their peers discovered two paths towards machine flight: airships and heavier-than-air machines. Knowing that airships could be developed sooner and would lead to enormous profits, they colluded on a fraudulent thesis claiming that heavier-than-air flight was impossible and published it in order to set up a monopoly on the air trade. Parrymill hires Turlo again, who concludes that with its new improvements Lial's machine will fly. Lial's benefactor reveals Turlo's new findings to Lial, and instructs him to throw a celebratory party. Halfway through Scop arrives, and reveals himself as Lial's benefactor. A skilled artificer himself, Scop is shut out of the College because he is a halfbreed, and took a job as one of Parrymill's servants in order to spy on him and help Lial from afar. Driven by bitterness against the prejudice of the city and loyalty to Limner's memory, Scop gave Lial everything he needed to complete Limner's work. He reveals that Parrymill is ready to resort to violence to ensure that Lial's innovation doesn't challenge the profitable status quo. Lial will have to complete the machine before Clifftops so Parrymill doesn't get his chance. A corrupt city watch sergeant named Maxel Rodder raids the workshop on Parrymill's behalf, but the Ants delay him with passive resistance and traps set by Gryssa's spider. Rodder reaches the roof before Lial can take off, but Taul We kicks him down the stairs. Lial's machine achieves flight. It begins to break down mid-air, but Lial keeps it aloft with his own wings, Taul We having helped him learn the Art of flight. He lands it on the Great College lawn. By the time Clifftops arrives two others have copied Lial's design, but Lial has already achieved what he needed to. His innovation lands him a post as the youngest ever Master at the College, and he influences the board to begin admitting halfbreed students, of whom Scop is the first. Heavier-than-air flight diversifies the air trade to Goiter Parrymill's detriment, but does not achieve prominence until after Lial's death, at the onset of the First Lowlands War. Characters '''Lial Morless: '''Beetle-kinden artificer and pioneer of heavier-than-air flight. '''Cutmold Limner: '''Lial's Beetle-kinden master. '''Scop: '''Beetle/Fly halfbreed forge hand, Lial's benefactor. '''Taul We: 'Grasshopper-kinden Art coach, Lial's drinking companion. '''Goiter Parrymill: '''Beetle-kinden airship magnate. '''Gryssa: '''Disgraced Spider-kinden Arista. '''Terant: '''Gryssa's Tarantula-kinden retainer. '''Torqwell Glassey: '''Beetle-kinden iron magnate. '''The Brothers Workwell: '''Three renegade Sarnesh Ant-kinden, former artillery engineers. '''Jons Pathawl: '''Beetle-kinden activist. '''Sulle: '''Ranking Fly-kinden in the Messenger Corp, business ally of Parrymill. '''Turlo: '''Fly-kinden locksmith and spy. '''Lanzo: '''Fly-kinden baker. '''Maxel Rodder: '''Beetle-kinden city watch sergeant. Category:To Own the Sky Category:Short Stories